Listen to the audio version of the article
«We expect Brussels to approve the deal with Ita Airways and Lufthansa in the summer». Thus the CEO of the German company, Carsten Spohr during the conference call to present the first quarter results, adding that “there is no plan B” and that “Lufthansa can go forward without Ita, but Ita cannot go forward without Lufthansa because it needs a parter to grow.” The CEO said he was optimistic when commenting on the extension of the deadline, but «there are red lines that we will not overcome (..) The Italian airline needs a future, it deserves a future, and that future has a plan called integration with Lufthansa.”
The German company, meanwhile, is relying on the second half of the year to recover the losses of the first quarter due to the strikes by referring to the strong demand which is expected to exceed that of last year. The quarter closes with a net loss of 734 million euros from 467 million euros in the same period of 2023 and revenue increasing by 5% to 7.4 billion euros. The airline confirmed its forecast of an operating profit (EBIT) of 2.2 billion euros, down from 2.7 billion euros a year earlier, revised downwards two weeks ago following a wave of strikes. Lower profits are expected in the second quarter compared to the previous year.
Recovery of losses in the second half
The company estimates strong demand for the summer with bookings up 16%. However, the capacity offered will not exceed pre-Covid levels, remaining at 92% also due to the failure to deliver aircraft: in the second half of the year, the group’s operating result should be higher than that of the previous year, he declared, adding that they are Savings measures were planned to stem the heavy losses due to strikes.
«We have reached long-term salary agreements for the majority of our employees. This means certainty and clarity of planning for the coming years – declared CEO Carsten Spohr -. We are still seeing strong demand, which for the summer is even significantly higher than last year.”
Air France-KLM, negative quarter due to cost increases
Negative quarter also for Air France-KLM which reported a net loss of 480 million euros, down 143 million euros compared to last year due to the increase in costs and the decline in results of the cargo division. The negative results were partly offset by the reduction in fuel costs and the increase in demand: in the first quarter traffic increased by 6.2% to 20.9 million passengers and with the increase in capacity by 4, 5 percent. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, total revenues increased by +5% to 6.7 billion euros.